Category Archives: Upper Key Stage 2 Blog

We’ve chosen ‘My Son Pinocchio Jr.‘ for this year’s Year 5/6 production.

In Disney’s My Son Pinocchio Jr., the classic tale of toymaker, Geppetto’s, little wooden puppet is given new life. This new musical retells the classic Disney story from Geppetto’s perspective.

Join the Blue Fairy, Stromboli and a lively cast of characters as Geppetto journeys beyond the toyshop to discover the meaning of family. Disney’s My Son Pinocchio JR. is filled with a magical mix of unique roles for all types of performers – from blue Fairies, to Roustabouts and, of course, Geppetto and Pinnochio.

Below are the songs for this production for you to listen to and practise:

We’re off to an early start this morning! The children have had breakfast and are heading to Nausicaa, one of the best aquariums in Europe.

Despite an early start and lots of travelling, today was a highlight for many of the children – they absolutely loved the aquarium. Great excitement and enthusiasm as they saw sharks up close, the penguins being fed, seals performing, alligators, turtles and sting rays (which they could touch). Lovely to see them having so much fun and to see them being wowed!

One final post from France 2016. All children are home safe and sound having had the time of their lives. They have been extremely well behaved and we thoroughly enjoyed spending time with them – so thank you Year 6 – you are amazing! Thank you also to Mrs Minter and Mrs Lord who spent hours putting the trip together but sadly couldn’t come. Mrs Freeman, Mr Sewell and Mr Lovegrove were a fantastic team – thank you for doing a great job of looking after the children.

I hope you all enjoy hearing about your child’s fantastic memories.

Thanks for all your support and kind words on our return – it was appreciated! Time for bed now 😀 Bonsoir Miss Timms, Mr Lovegrove, Mrs Freeman and Mr Sewell.

Good morning from France! The children have slept well and we’re off to an early start. Today we’re visiting a supermarket, a town and we’re hoping to spend the afternoon by the beach.

Bonjour from the top of Mont-Saint-Michel!

What a fabulous day our year 6s have had!! A very early 6:30am start was worth it for what followed: A superb visit and climb up to the Abbey of Mont San Michel with beautiful weather; a visit to the town of Arromanche with a play on the beach; delicious ice cream (a choice of 42 flavours); a visit to the French supermarket (your children know how to spend 😂) and back to the chateau for a swim in the evening sun, a bbq for dinner and more ice cream. Now they are bopping away to the tunes of YMCA and Uptown Funk. Great day had by all – ‘almost time for bed’ said four tired teachers with a smile!

Bonjour! Good morning all. Children were fantastic last night – straight to bed, not a peep out of them and almost all of them needed a gentle wake up this morning as they were fast asleep. They’ve enjoyed a continental breakfast (pain au chocolat went down well). The sun is shining and we have a great day ahead.

Bonne après-midi! We’re currently at a goats’ cheese farm in Ferme du Mesnil. The children are really enjoying this!

Another awesome day – French lesson, Bayeaux town, cathedral and tapestry, goats cheese farm and tasting (which they loved), American cemetery, Omaha beach, swimming, frogs leg and snail tasting (most of the children tried), sports on the field … and bed! Zzzzzzzzz

06.59am: Bonjour! Year 6 are off to France for four days of adventure and fun. Stay in touch with what they’re up to via our social media accounts.

11.36am: Arrived in France and having a quick break – all happy and having fun!

We are pleased to report that all 32 children and 4 adults have arrived safely at Chateau du Molay. The children are super excited after behaving extremely well on a very long coach journey. A visit to Honfleur was thoroughly enjoyed by all – such a beautiful town – even the sun came out for a short while … But then again so did the rain! Children are now enjoying ‘It’s a knock out’ on the lawn outside. Bedtime soon

All in bed after a busy day. Tomorrow we’re having a French lesson, visiting the Bayeux Tapestry, visiting the beach and going swimming, amongst other things. Night all!

ICE Bridges to Schools came to Beechwood on Monday 22 February. The year 5/6 children were given a brief presentation about the project and then experienced building a 12m long model of a cable-stayed bridge, while wearing hard hats, high-vis vests, gloves and goggles. All the children got to walk across the bridge and test their engineering skills.

Having completed the task and tested it they then got to de-construct it.

It has been another great week in Year 5/6 with the children showing continued enthusiasm for their learning. Our very successful literacy unit about Robin Hood is drawing to an end and the children have been writing as if they are the cruel Sir Guy of Gisborne. In class, the children have had drama opportunities to get into the character of Sir Guy and have worked on their most sinister faces and slimiest voices. They then spent some time planning a first person narrative of the story of Robin Hood from Sir Guy’s perspective and are midway through producing, what we are sure will be, some fantastic writing.

In maths this week 5/6D’s set have been looking at factor pairs, prime numbers and prime factorisation which has resulted in them becoming excellent rappers. Watch the video below to see their PRIME rap! (Some interesting dance moves…)

Miss Anderson’s group have become treasure hunters, looking for buried treasure and they have used co-ordinates on maps to help them discover the hidden treasure. Miss Timms group have spent this week’s maths lessons in the ICT suite where they have been planning their own parties by using formulas on excel to work out costs and items needed.

In topic we have built on our knowledge of natural disasters which have hit North America by studying hurricanes. The children have used tablets to research what a hurricane is; how they are measured and what to do if you know a hurricane is on its way. They have written any safety tips on what to do in the case of a hurricane so don’t worry if a freak hurricane hits Woodley, our children are experts! We have also looked at some news footage of Hurricane Katrina that devastatingly hit parts of USA, such as New Orleans in 2005. Despite the sad nature of Hurricane Katrina, the children have generated and started to write brilliant news reports about the storm and have given a factual and impartial view to the events that took place.

We are now looking forward to spending next week carrying out some experiments related to friction and forces so look out for some video footage of the children carrying out their experiments.

Finally, we are looking forward to seeing as many of our year 6 parents as possible next Wednesday when we will be sharing with you information regarding the up and coming SATs.

It’s been a busy couple of weeks in Upper Key Stage 2 with all the children showing continued enthusiasm for their learning.

Continuing our work on Hurricanes and Tornadoes, we have been empathising with the victims of tornadoes in America. The children were stunned by the news footage of a school in Oklahoma being destroyed by the twister and wrote detailed and sympathetic diary entries imagining that this disaster had happened to them.

In English, we have continued to work on the legend of Robin Hood and have been delving more deeply into the meaning of the text. We have learned about how the same story can be told through different genres – including drama on the use of parody for humour. Below are some pictures of Miss Timms’ class re-enacting a scene from the story:

English Drama

We have also been writing descriptions of a sinister forest setting. Some of the language being used by the children is of an incredibly high standard and they should be very proud of how they have used similes and metaphors to appeal to their readers.

In Maths, the work has continued on Fractions and Decimals with the children investigating how fractions and decimals can be applied in real life Maths situations. Miss Anderson’s group spent an enjoyable morning calculating fractions of numbers using chocolate and Smarties as inspiration and Miss Timms class have moved on to looking at ratio and proportion.

We hope you had a lovely break and are ready for all the exciting things which are happening this term.

The children have come back to school refreshed and ready to go and it is great to see them so enthusiastic about their learning. Our first week back flew past and saw a continuation of our topic on ‘Stars & Stripes’. The focus has moved on to looking at Hurricanes and Tornadoes in the context of North America, where most of the world’s big tornadoes strike. The children have thoroughly enjoyed researching tornadoes and were easily hooked in by watching the first 5 minutes of ‘The Wizard of Oz’. We have since gone on to create our own tornadoes in a jar which really enthused the children and can be viewed in the clip below:

Learning Spanish is in full swing in the UKS2 classes with children enjoying learning the pronunciation of letter sounds. Click on the links to support your child with Spanish:

In English, we have started a new unit which looks in details at the features of legends. Our main focus is on the legend of Robin Hood. There has been great excitement as the children have learned about the stories and exploits of Robin Hood and have found out about the time in history when he is believed to have lived. We are very much looking forward to working with the children and to exploring and writing about this notorious character in more depth.

In maths, the children have continued to work on fractions, decimals and percentages and have been involved in activities which require them to solve problems in small groups. 15 children from across the key stage have been chosen to attend a maths master class at Bulmershe, which is a great opportunity for them and will hopefully challenge them in their learning.

We look forward to working with you this term and to sharing with you all the fantastic work that we will be doing.

This week very much had a War theme, starting with our Remembrance service at Woodford Park on Wednesday. This was the second time that the whole school had attended the service at the new memorial and once again the children behaved extremely well, showing respect to the proceedings and remaining quiet throughout the period of silence, as we remembered those who had fought and fallen in many wars.

The week also saw the end to our topic ‘Digging for Victory’ which the children thoroughly enjoyed. We finished the topic in style with our very own VE day celebration which we invited people from the Woodley Day Centre to attend. It was such a great event that we are hoping to ‘make it into the local newspaper’.

The school hall was decked out with union jack bunting, streamers and balloons to reflect the occasion, and napkins of red, white and blue decorated the tables.

Eleven OAPs came along with staff from the Day Centre and joined with the children as they sang war time songs and watched Winston Churchill’s end of war speech on a big screen. The children sat with the visitors and listened attentively as they told stories of digging for victory; being evacuated and fighting for our country. It was a very poignant and at times emotional experience for all involved as the older folk remembered and the children heard and saw first-hand the impact that World War 2 had on people’s lives.

Towards the end of the afternoon, everyone was treated to tea and cake, which of course included the classics of scones and jam tarts. Suddenly, one old lady broke out into song, taking with her all 90 children, who sang and experienced the joys of the end of the war. It was a truly magnificent afternoon; one which was a blessing and benefit to old and young alike.

The event was visited by Rachel Minter, the deputy head who said: “This was an exceptional learning experience for our children where they showed a deep respect for our visitors”.

Gordon Davies, the head teacher of Beechwood Primary School, also remarked on the benefits of such an experience for all involved. He said: “For the people who experienced the war, it was a walk down memory lane and for the children it was a unique, active learning experience”.

The visitors had a wonderful time and it is reported that they continued to sing, with smiles on their faces, all the way home. This was an example of the value of bringing generations together. The children of Beechwood showed amazing sensitivity and it was commented by the visitors that they behaved impeccably. The children are now looking forward to a return visit when the choir visit the day centre in December to sing Christmas songs.

The second half of this term, and the week that houses Bonfire night, quite literally got off to a bang with some exciting learning going on in Upper Key Stage 2.

The children were introduced to a new literacy and language unit – Prometheus and Pandora. The story is a Greek myth which gives a mythical explanation to the beginning of mankind.

In the story Prometheus, who was a Greek God, accidentally created humans and then breathed life into them. We thought it would be fun for the children to imagine that they were Prometheus and to create their own human figures out of clay. We spent some time doing this, which the children thoroughly enjoyed and I’m sure you’ll agree (see photos below) they did a great job!

In topic, we have continued our topic of ‘Dig for Victory’ which is nearing its end. In the context of growing vegetables, we have been studying plants, plant growth and the life cycle of plants. At the beginning of the week, the children dissected plants and identified the different parts and the functions of the parts of a flower. Later in the week, we carried out an experiment to see how plants absorb water. We experimented by placing celery in food coloured water and observed the changes that took place. We then cut up the celery to see how the water travels up the stems and into the leaves. The children had great fun experimenting and loved the hands on learning.

This week, we have started a new unit in maths which covers different units of measure. Over the next two weeks, we will be looking at measurements of: length, distance, volume, area and time. It would be great if the children could practice measuring things out and telling the time whilst they are at home.

This Friday is the cake sale for class 5/6T and we look forward to buying and selling lots of delicious cakes to raise much needed funds for the school.

We look forward to sharing all the exciting learning and fun opportunities that we embark on in this lead up to Christmas.

Next week: Photos of our VE Day celebration with the Woodley Day Centre and our memorial service at Woodford Park

The children have all settled in extremely well and are working hard whilst having lots of fun.

As you will have seen in the previous blogs, this term has been so full of interesting and exciting learning opportunities and experiences for the children. From trips to the cinema and the museum; class assemblies to Harvest services; Roald Dahl Day fundraiser to Class Cake Sales; visits from World War 2 enthusiasts to a visit from a children’s author and so much more– Wow, we have packed so much in!

Our World War 2 topic has really captured their interests and they have thoroughly enjoyed finding out what life was like for children during that time. Some of the display boards throughout school reflect the amazing work that the children have done in topic and English – please feel free to come and see some of the work displayed for yourselves!

One of the highlights of the last two weeks was the visit from author Will Grill. Beechwood hosted the event which was attended by over 400 children from schools in Woodley. Will Grill is a new children’s author and illustrator whose book ‘Shackleton’s Journey’ has recently been published. Will spoke to the children about the process of writing and illustrating his book and gave the children a quick master class in illustrating. This was an absolutely brilliant experience for the children, many of whom bought signed copies of his book.

The half term holiday is now here and I sincerely hope you have a lovely, restful break. We don’t want the children to spend their holiday working but if they are bored on a cold, rainy day then you might like to direct them to the websites below which are packed with fun things to learn, games to play and things to do.

Thank you for your continued support of all that we are doing in Year 5 & 6.

Miss Timms

Next Term: Look out for photos and a report of our VE Day celebration with the Woodley Day Centre; Christmas Choir performances and details of all that we are learning about with our new topic – Stars and Stripes!

Will Grill Visit – October 2015

Will Grill Visit

Will Grill Visit

Will Grill Visit

It has been a busy but fun week in year 5/6 and the children have once again been working extremely hard. The week started off with the whole school walking in the pouring rain to St. James’s Church where we held our harvest assembly. This was a fantastic occasion where the children all sang beautifully and 5/6D did a great poetry presentation. Many children from Year 5/6 were represented in the choir, who were once again outstanding.

On Wednesday, it was the turn of 5/6D and 5/6B to visit the Imperial War Museum in London. After a very excitable coach journey, we finally arrived and the children had a fantastic time. There was great enthusiasm as the children discovered new things and experienced what life was like for a family in World War 2. Over the last few days, children have written about their day out and the things they learned and it has been an absolute pleasure to read some of their outstanding write ups. In addition to this, our topic work has focussed on rationing. Children were introduced to the BBC website which has lots of interesting activities- click the link below to find out more and to do some of the activities:

In English, children have had a debate using the language of persuasion and have entered into discussions to present their arguments. The children enjoyed using ICT to put together slides to back up their suggestions.

Maths was great fun in Miss Timms’ Class this week as the children were learning about the order of operations in calculations using BODMAS. To assist their learning, they learned a song which can be viewed below.

Finally, well done to Melissa Wicks, Sanaa Hassan Bhatti and Jonathan Oldach for winning the book fair competition, where they had to draw their favourite book character. Melissa drew a great picture of Hetty Feather and Jonathan drew Fantastic Mr Fox. Other congratulations go to the winners of the handwriting competition – great job everyone!

Book Fair Competition – October 2015

Usair Shaffi

Jake Wicks

Sanaa Hassan

Melissa Wicks

Jonathan Oldach

Well, here we are with blog number two – keeping you informed of all that is going on in Year 5/6! We have had another week of fun and exciting learning where the children have worked extremely hard and have completed work to a very high standard.

In English we have been learning about the power of persuasion and the purpose and audience of different texts. The children have explored different persuasive phrases and have created some excellent posters focussing on the layout and structure of their writing.

The highlight of the week, for 5/6T, was our trip to the Imperial War Museum in London. The children had a fantastic day exploring, learning and finding out about life during World War 2. It was a real joy to see their enthusiasm and to watch them eager to find out about objects and artefacts from the 1940’s. They experienced what it was like to be in an air raid shelter and explored the life of a family from that time. As always, the children did Beechwood proud – their behaviour was impeccable and was noticed and mentioned by several members of the public. 56B and 56D get their opportunity next week!

Finally, the week ended with our annual Roald Dahl Day. Beechwood was visited by a variety of characters from the Roald Dahl stories including: Willy Wonka, Miss Honey, The Witches, The BFG and many, many more! Children in Upper Key Stage 2 made a huge effort with their costumes and enjoyed doing work and activities related to Roald Dahl.

Next Week: Visit us next week to see news of Year 5’s visit to the cinema, our Harvest Service and the second wave of children visiting the Imperial War Museum.

It’s finally here – the first blog of the year for year 5/6! It is here that we will show you all the amazing things that we get up to and all the great learning that we do here at Beechwood.

Well, it has certainly been a fast pace start to the year and we are flying at super speed in Upper Key Stage 2. The children have loved our first unit in Literacy where they have been studying poetry and this week they wrote their own poems about what happens in the classroom when all the children go home. Using personification, alliteration and other poetic devices they created some top quality, imaginative poems which really captured our imaginations. Keep your eyes peeled over the next few weeks as some of them will be displayed around the school and in the classrooms.

Our topic – Dig for Victory has really engaged the children so far and they are thoroughly enjoying learning about the events of World War 2. A visit from two World War 2 enthusiasts, Tom and Robert, proved to be a great success as they turned up to school in a 1944 War vehicle. They shared stories with the children, allowed the children to handle items from the 1940’s and answered the children’s questions about life in Britain during World War 2. The children especially enjoyed dressing up in some of the uniforms and sitting at the wheel of the army vehicle.

5/6T lead the way in being the first class to do a class assembly which of course they did on World War 2. The children did brilliantly – sharing their knowledge, reading poetry and singing some well-known songs from the war. It was a very poignant and thought provoking assembly which was enjoyed by all.

Next week: News about 5/6T’s trip to the Imperial War Museum and Roald Dahl Day – don’t miss it!